Surgical drill for hearing prosthetics

2022: Announcement

In early December 2022, a smart surgical drill for hearing education was presented, the device automatically turns off if it turns out to be too close to the nerves.

Hearing prosthetics is a method of correcting hearing impairment, which implies a competent selection of a hearing aid for the patient. Installing a cochlear implant is a complicated procedure in which some nerves can be damaged if the surgeon is not careful enough. Since the number of points of the auditory nerve stimulated by the implant electrode is immeasurably less than the number of hair cells in a normally functioning cochlea, the person with the implant first hears the wrong sounds that he is used to.

Surgical drill for hearing prosthetics

The device is intended for use with an existing image-controlled robotic system in which an implant is inserted into the inner ear through a narrow channel drilled into the skull. This channel must be located very precisely as it must pass through the 3 mm gap between the main facial nerves and taste buds nerves without damaging any of them.

For December 2022, when the canal is drilled only a few mm in the skull, the drill is removed and the electrified probe is inserted. Until this probe is close enough to the facial nerve to stimulate it - as evidenced by facial twitching - drilling can continue. While using a probe is an important step in the procedure, it is another task that makes surgery longer and more time-consuming than it would otherwise be at this stage and a smart surgical drill would be useful.

Developed by scientists at the Swiss research institute Empa, it features a titanium nitride/silicon nitride coated drill that simultaneously drills the skull and delivers a weak electric current. If the electrodes on the patient's face detect facial nerve stimulation, the drill stops automatically.

The developers hope that the technology can eventually be used not only in cochlear implantation surgery, but also in any procedure carried out near the nerve, for example, in the spine. On December 7, 2022, scientists from Empa are looking for industrial partners to commercialize the device.^[1]

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